Do you think its necessary to stack vocals?

Just Clauz

Just Clauz

New member
Do you think it is necessary? What about if you "rap sing" like Fetty Wap, Young Thug, Future ect?

Or do any of you purposely not stack vocals?
 
I use to stack vocals a lot but have gotten away from it. I think I use to do it, when I was first starting out, as a crutch for subpar vocal recordings. I still do it, but I do it according to ear. If it sounds better, I do it. If not, I don't. That's a producers job: make decisions based on what sounds the best. So I say, trust your ears! Hope that helps.
 
I like to stack 2 vocals together. One of them would sit in the proper volume of the mix paned 8% to the left and then the other about 6db lower than it panned 100 to the right or other way around. make sure they are both different takes. This gives it still the mono feel in the middle of the track but a little bit of a stereo feel on some words
 
michaeldaro said:
I like to stack 2 vocals together. One of them would sit in the proper volume of the mix paned 8% to the left and then the other about 6db lower than it panned 100 to the right or other way around. make sure they are both different takes. This gives it still the mono feel in the middle of the track but a little bit of a stereo feel on some words
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I've never tried this. I'm going to. Thank you!
 
Ya Np man! sometime that 8% and 6b deduction might be off so use your ears in the end. solo both vocal track and pan one slightly to the left or right(3-8%), then pan the other the 100% the opposite way and turn it down till both levels of the vocals match up on each left and right channel. The level of the combination of the 42%(give or take) of the first vocal, and the 100% of the second vocal on one side should match the level of the other 58% (give or take) on the first vocal on the other side. That may be a bit confusing but that prob the best way i can put it. (I was using 8% just as an example for the 42% on one side and the 58% on the other. It can be 47 and 53 or anything between 3 - 8%. If you would like an example of how this sounds, i did it on this song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5UdqEFrozc
 
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A good thing to add if you're panning vocals as well is a track delay in ms I usually have a vocal in the middle and then 2 panned 1 to the left one to the right with a track delay maybe -10 on one and 5 on the other.
If you're using Cubase there is a clock type icon below the pan on the left hand side
As said before depends what you're going for.
 
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not always necessary. depends what you want to do. Add texture, make it pop, add effects, ...
 
It isn't necessary. I know Tupac would stack over 3-5 layers of vocals on some songs but with today's technology, it is really not necessary. What software are you using to record vocals?

In Pro Tools, I tend to send my Vocal channel into an AUX where I'll add a stereo imager to widen the vocals in the mix. Keep in mind the Vocal channel is in mono still and with the stereo imager in the AUX channel, you can control the volume of the AUX Channel allowing you to determine how much of the imaging effect you want on the vocals.

An AUX channel is basically a send channel. You would route the vocal channel to pass signal using a send which will allow you to pass anywhere from 0% to 100% of the vocals signal. 0% being there is no signal, hence no imaging on the vocals and 100% being full signal and full imaging effect on the vocals. You can control this by using the fader on the send/aux to increase or decrease imaging effect.

Using sends for time-based effects (Reverbs, Delays, etc) is highly recommended for more control in the mix.

Audio Recording Tips - Improve Your Sound
 
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